Avatar the Last Airbender: The Spiritbender War
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender. OCs do belong to me
A/N: It is best to read Ozai's Choice first, before reading this, even though they start at roughly the same time, and then beyond.
A/N: AnimeFanGirlWrites4ever - thanks for the review. What they want will be revealed throughout the course of the story.
A/N: Thanks for your reviews Amber Pegasus and tege.
A/N: Churnok, thanks for your constructive criticism. I'll try to put it more together, but for me it's a natural break - like shifting from one TV scene to the next.
A/N: badkidoh, while I can't promise you anything specific, this chapter has a lot of bang to it. Ozai will definitely be tempted to go back to his old ways. He certainly ain't nice to a certain someone in this chapter. Some of the choices that he will make will antagonise the other heroes, don't you worry. And don't rule out a switch of sides either!
Chapter 1
One month passed, and a Fire Nation airship, sweeping high in the mountains of the Northern Earth Kingdom, noticed something. It was a temple high in the mountains, one that wasn't on the maps. The Captain of the airship decided to zoom in with his telescope. He saw three figures, a man, and two children. He saw the two children firebend throwing streams of fire, hitting the two rocks within the view of the Captain. He focused in on the man. He saw the man had dark hair, long and lank, and had no shirt on, and was well-muscled. He saw the man go through a firebending stance, but saw no fire. What he didn't notice was the rock one hundred metres away shatter. He saw the kids clap. He focused in as the man's face became visible. It's Ozai, he recognized the former Fire Lord, even though his beard was now gone, as he was clean shaven. What the Captain didn't notice, was the woman who now approached Ozai. The Captain gave the order, and the airship left, after they had noted the co-ordinates. They would send a team to get him.
Ozai had just finished a session with little Fu, and little Ji, where he was teaching them more advanced firebending skills. He had his own training session later that day, with Feng, Mizuki and Yue Ying, more spiritbending sessions and more Unified Style training. Ozai saw Ursa approach him, a towel in hand. He pulled her in close, and kissed her. Fu and Ji made gagging noises, as Ozai collected his towel, and began to towel down after the training session. Ursa handed Fu and Ji their own towels to wipe their sweat and sent them to the baths.
Ursa and Ozai were walking into the courtyard. Ever since they had reaffirmed their marriage, they had lived in a state of wedded bliss. Their eight 'children' were a handful, but their world was perfect. Papa Bear and Mama Bear was the children's favourite game, they would hang off Ozai's arms, sit on Ursa's lap. And they would all laugh and roll around.
"Ursa," Ozai said, as he held her closely, "I love you."
"I know," Ursa replied, "I love you too. You don't need to keep telling me that all the time."
"Ah, but I do," Ozai said, "Because you are everything to me." She laughed again, as he hugged her.
"Stop being so silly," Ursa said, giggling merrily, as they entered into the quarters they now shared.
Night passed, and day came, and the happy family of the Temple continued their sequestered lives. Tai Feng said that Ozai wasn't ready yet, he still had to finish mastering the Unified Style. Tai Feng was the one who usually talked to him outside of training and he was the closest to the children, but Yue Ying was the martial leader of their small Temple group, she was the oldest, at about 200 or so Feng guessed.
Feng told him and Ursa, that there were other spiritbenders out there. They had had a falling out over what Sozin had done, slowly. There were those who favoured sitting out of the war, there were those who favoured intervention and a search for the new Avatar, and an assassination of Sozin. As the war dragged on for a hundred years, more spiritbenders were in favour of assassinating the Fire Lord and ending the war, and directly intervening and ruling the world themselves. I and the others here on our side, believed that the power would have corrupted us and turned us into tyrants. We would not have let go."
"I know," Ozai replied, "I lived it." He sighed, content as if reminiscing.
"Believe it or not," Feng said, "they were going to have you killed, and put Iroh on the throne."
Ozai laughed, "That would have stopped the war. Neither Zuko or Iroh wanted to continue the war."
"Yes," Feng said, "but lately there are those of us spiritbenders that think that we should take direct rule of the world. We are those who believe differently. However, they are winning; we are down to the three of us, and you now."
"How many of them are there?"
"Even we don't know," Feng said, "When Brother Huo died, we don't know how many of them he took with him to death. They may only be four; they may be as many as nine, if the Brother failed to kill any of them."
"Who was Brother Huo?" Ozai asked.
"He was our elder, the oldest of the Spiritbenders," Feng said, "He was an ex-firebender like you. We think he took five of them down with him but we will never know their bodies were vaporised by the blast of chi energy."
Ozai nodded, "Brother Huo was a great man."
"Aye," Feng said, "he was. Our enemies will not stop; they have lost hope that the four nations could be rebuilt. They have lost hope that the balance will be restored."
"And a lot of it is my fault," Ozai said, sadly, "I should have done things differently."
"You could not undo what Sozin did," Feng replied, "You could not undo the slaughter of the airbenders." Ozai nodded in agreement, "I believe that the balance will come back naturally, airbenders will come through those who have the blood of the airbenders in them. They should start emerging more and more often; at least that was what Brother Huo believed. The balance will be restored naturally." Ursa and Ozai left to sleep for the night in their shared bedroom. Tai Feng left for his.
The messenger hawk got back to the King Huei in Ba Sing Se, Ozai has been spotted, and coordinates are as follows. King Kuei dispatched a messenger to the Jasmine Dragon, where Toph, Aang and Katara and Iroh were. "Zuko would want to be here," Iroh said, "to catch his father."
"I'm here, Uncle Iroh," the Fire Nation's Fire Lord stepped into the small shop in Ba Sing Se sans Mai. "We head out tomorrow on the my airship. We will catch the criminal again." Zuko's face creased in determination.
The next morning came, and with the arrival of Sokka and Suki from the Kyoshi Islands, the group set out towards the Temple. At the Temple, its inhabitants went through their daily routine.
Ozai was going through more advanced firebending techniques, today he was teaching the children to fly by using fire. He demonstrated, "you have to push steadily down with your energy through the feet, but not too much or you'll shoot off into the air, come try it, Ji." The dark haired girl complied and began to push down. The steam produced underneath her feet began to produce the desired effect, of pushing her up into the air.
"Wow, Papa Bear," she said, "I'm floating," exhilarated, but she suddenly fell back down to the ground, having lost her concentration. "Ouch," she said, as she rubbed her backside. Little Fu laughed. Ozai gave his son an arched look which promptly shut him up.
"That was good, little Ji," Ozai said. "Fu, I expect you to do better, if you are laughing at your sister like that." Bei Fu nodded and began to try to fly using the power of firebending. Unlike his sister, he lost control and shot up straight in the air. Ozai tapped the ground, and zoomed straight up after him, using chi energy rather than firebending. He caught up to his son, and scooped him up in his arms, and whispered, "you can stop, you'll need to learn control." Ozai looked up in the air, and saw an airship heading straight for them.
He landed on the ground, and patted little Fu on the head, "Ji, Fu," he said, as his eyes scanned the horizon, seeing the airship approach. "Both of you, go back inside to your mother, tell her to hide with you, practice will finish early today. We might have a few unwanted guests." His two children nodded and went running back towards the living quarters. Ozai stripped off his robe, and waited. The airship approached.
On board the Fire Nation airship, Team Avatar was preparing their attack. "Bring us in," Fire Lord Zuko ordered. The Captain of the airship complied. Looking out the spyglass, Sokka saw Ozai standing in the middle of the courtyard of the Temple, unmoving.
"I suspect something," Sokka said, "he's standing there, just waiting, probably a trap or something. He must have allies." Zuko agreed. He signalled Aang behind on Appa along with Katara. They dropped suddenly, and Aang waited, but no attack came. Aang and Katara dropped off Appa and assumed their fighting stances.
Seeing that no surprise attack came, the other members of Team Avatar dropped down onto the ground of the courtyard. "Surrender now, Ozai, and come peacefully," Zuko said as they approached slowly. Ozai didn't move an inch. It was a good thing I told little Fu and Ji to hide with my wife. He didn't want Ursa to see Zuko, he feared she would leave him for Zuko, the son she had always loved. He should have realized that Ursa would keep her promise, never to leave him again, he should have realised that she had only done what she had done to save Zuko's life, that Zuko was not really in danger if understanding passed between her husband and his eldest son. He should have realized that she loved little Fu and her other children too much to leave them. He should have known that she loved her husband. But he did not.
"No," he answered. "Leave here, now," he roared. "Or I will make you leave."
"You and what army," Zuko said, "you have no firebending powers." He shifted slightly in his stance. Toph readied her earthbending power to trap Ozai in a prison of rock.
"I will repeat it again," Ozai said slowly, "leave now, or I will make you leave." Toph moved, earthbending to entrap Ozai. The earth moved as one with Toph's manipulation. Ozai jumped backwards to avoid the earth. Jagged spikes and protrusions like hands came up out of the earth. "You won't catch me so easily," he taunted. Flipping away from the latest pillar of earth to erupt from the courtyard. Katara's water whip came in from his right side, and he twisted as it whipped past him. Aang and Zuko attacked throwing two fireballs, forcing Ozai to drop to the ground, only to roll away from another set of rocky hands that threatened to grab him.
Ozai continued to dodge relentlessly, not attacking, but dodging. Not that he had a lot of time to counter attack against four benders and whatever else they were throwing at him. But it would only be a matter of time when he was trapped. Sweat dripped off his body as he dodged the next attack. He was only delaying for time, as the others would come. No, he couldn't do that. This was his fight, his problem to solve. He had to call his firebending and spiritbending abilities to the fore to fight his enemies.
"That's it," Ozai said. "I'm getting serious." He saw a second airship come into range, troops from the Fire Nation and the Earth Nation. When they arrived it would be about one against ten. He deepened his stance into the Unified Style. He called his firebending abilities for now, forming a whip of fire. He smiled; a feral grin.
Zuko looked in shock, as he saw Ozai summon a whip of fire. He can bend, what's happened. Didn't the Avatar strip his bending ability away? Aang worried, had he not done enough, how? Why did Ozai get his powers back? Katara saw recognised a waterbending stance, what's happening, how can he treat fire like water? Toph knew that the attack had to continue, it would be an even more dangerous dance of the elements. Aang's Avatar State had been able to beat Ozai, but there would be four of them this time at least.
They attacked, all at once, fire, earth, air and water. Ozai bought the whip of fire crashing down, blowing away the attacks, nothing more, nothing less. The next lot of attacks, he blocked again, with a wall of fire. The fire whip that he wielded, flicked out quickly, at Katara, she was probably the weakest out of the four that he was facing right now. His chain of fire whipped was met by a wall of water and ice, but he just changed mid-style to a heavier splitting blow, more like earthbending, crashing through the defensive wall, and striking Katara, who had to roll away.
She came up clutching her left arm, revealing an ugly burn on it. She quickly retreated for now, dropping back to heal herself.
Toph threw blocks of earth at Ozai, pressing the attack. He had to wall his back with fire, to prevent any attacks from the back. He could only hold out for so long. Even the former Phoenix King could not defeat ten at once. He saw one more familiar face come to face him, his older brother Iroh, leading the troops that had just landed. They worked as one, throwing fire and earth at once, an overwhelming attack. Time to change to spiritbending. Ozai drew deep into his reserves, the well within his body, he drew from the air without, the earth beneath, the chi flowing through all around him, he prepared, flexed, readied to strike.
He punched out, without fire, straight towards Toph, who didn't see the attack coming. No one saw any fire, and so assumed that the attack had somehow fizzled. Only Aang had time to shout, "Toph watch out," before the blast of chi knocked Toph off her feet and back into the stone wall. She fell down with a thud, injured. Toph was angry, she didn't feel or see that one coming.
"What the hell was that," Zuko asked.
"It's nothing I've seen before," Aang replied, as they continued to attack, "but I felt the rush of energy emerge from Ozai just before Toph went flying."
Ozai had no time to quip with a rejoinder, as he dodged Iroh's fire breath. The Earth Kingdom soliders continued to press with boulders, he threw another couple of bolts of lightning, blocked by earth walls, and then had to dodge the fireballs that came back at him.
He saw that the two girls that he had struck earlier had recovered and began to attack once more. He couldn't hold out much longer, even his strength was beginning to fade. A lash of a water whip, a boulder struck his shoulder, as he continued to weave away from attacks and then counterattack.
"Papa Bear," he heard a voice come in from inside the building, "let me help," little Fu threw a fireball through the window at Katara. Reflexively a torrent of water was sent back towards the building.
"No," Ozai shouted, as he flew by the power of fire, with renewed energy into the attack's incoming path to save his son. The water hit him in the back. Ozai blew chi energy to soften the blow, but the torrent still sent him to the floor.
"Papa Bear…" he heard the scream of two children, "Ozai," a woman's voice panicked unheard through the cacophony. He picked himself up, and dusted himself off.
"Now you've made me mad, no one hurts my family," he growled, almost inhuman with righteous anger. He aimed to kill summoning lightning to his arms with the circular motion needed to bend lightning. He threw two bolts, whiplike at the Fire Nation soldiers.
He saw little Fu run out, "Fu, get back inside," he shouted, had time as he whipped the lightning around. Zuko jumped in front of his uncle Iroh, as the lightning came towards him, reflexively redirecting it, but without control on its path. It arced towards Bei Fu. Ozai shot straight towards his son, shielding him. His redirected lightning struck him right in the middle of the back. Gods that hurt. He felt the red flare of pain coursing through his body. "Son, are you alright," he whispered, between gasps of breath.
Fu's eyes were filled with tears, "Papa bear," he said, between ragged sobs, "I'm fine. You're hurt, papa bear." Ozai gasped taking deep ragged breaths. He had to grab his son and roll, as the earthbenders tried to catch them once more. He lifted the boy with one arm, around Fu's waist held against his side. His other hand ready to bend chi. His eyes looked wild, almost feral. He lashed out, sending a blast of chi out in front, a wave of energy. The blast knocked some of the enemies off their feet, but lacked the focused power to kill. Holding his child whilst fighting was not something that Ozai was used to, at all. He only hoped that the others would arrive soon, or he would, well die, or be captured again. Would the Avatar try to strip his powers again? Or would they just execute him?
Little Fu looked very worried. His Papa Bear, his father was holding him tightly by the waist. These scary looking enemies; were all attacking his Papa Bear. Who were they? "Mama, help, Papa," he screamed. Ozai with Fu jumped backwards, again throwing another wave of chi energy, just to distract them, pressing for time.
"He's got the little child hostage," Zuko said, not believing that Little Fu would ever actually love his father. He had never known his father to show any love to anyone. Inside the building Ursa and Little Ji, came out of the door. She saw who was outside, "stop," she screamed.
Zuko stared in shock, Iroh likewise, this was the missing, the banished Ursa, and she was with Ozai? They thought, as they saw her and the little girl child rush towards Ozai. Two earthbenders moved towards to stop her, but Iroh held them back with an order.
A/N: I'll leave it at this slight cliffy. What will Ursa do and say? Will she be able to stop the attack? Look forward to the next chapter. Please Review!
